Originally Posted By HauntedMansionFan If I'm not mistaken, the last new "country" to be added to World Showcase was Norway back in 1998... I seem to recall plans for new countries to be popping up left and right back in the early days of EPCOT...wasn't there talk of Russia, Israel, Africa at one point? Have these been abandoned? Or are there any plans for new countries that I just somehow don't know about?
Originally Posted By HauntedMansionFan Excuse me, I meant to say 1988, not 1998! Wow, 21 years...and nothing new. Sad, really.
Originally Posted By mousermerf That's one of my major issues with WDI - when was the last time a new county was even proposed?
Originally Posted By Manfried mousemerf said: "when was the last time a new county was even proposed?" In the county of the land of OZ. Okay, I know you meant a country. I think that Disney wants the country to pay for its pavilion. Not a lot of countries want to belly up to the WDW cost bar and fork over millions of dollars.
Originally Posted By mousermerf People say that.. but World Showcase during construction was running out of money - Disney paid for a heck of a lot of it. Individual countries have even come out against Disney for not updating their pavilions (Norway and Canada have both publicly been annoyed with the shows at their pavilions.) It leads me to believe that not having funding because a country wont pay for it is a long standing myth. Disney simply doesn't want to expand that area.
Originally Posted By SFH Disney won't do it without significant support from the country's government, businesses based in that country, or both. Israel, Spain, and "Equatorial Africa" were all proposed and even promoted at one point. Israel was represented at the Millennium Village, or whatever it was called, but there as a "disclaimer" meant to soothe political tensions. The sad fact is, a permanent Israel section would make the park, and perhaps the whole company, a target for some violence.
Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer It's been conceptualized, but not recently. EPCOT certainly needs it, though.
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy I think the expansion of World Showcase is doomed (and has been) largely because of the way it was conceived in the first place. You have these relatively large scale pavilions that seemingly all require some sort of shopping/dining experience with a mix of various attractions. I can't imagine that there is really that much shopping/dining demand at EPCOT. How do you expand World Showcase without adding to the shopping/dining capacity that is already bigger than the demand? The sponsor countries will feel short-changed if you don't have a restaurant or shop as part of the mix. Guests have grown to expect this level of development as well. I think the only way to expand World Showcase is to accept some level of pavilion that doesn't have shopping/dining or is on a very limited scale in the realm of attractions. Either that, or you need to scale back on the offerings at current pavilions. Without any attendance growth at EPCOT, it's just really hard to see how you justify expanding World Showcase. I know it's something we all would like to see, but it's a hard proposition considering what's there already.
Originally Posted By jmuboy I have to agree with post number 9, although the lack of headliner attractions at current pavilions (Japan, Italy, UK, etc) is not excused. These pavilions is where WDI should be looking to to bring more rides and people - to EPCOT.
Originally Posted By mousermerf What's perplexing is that Epcot is really the only park at WDW that has the infrastructure to deal with much higher crowds then it currently is. Hence, it's the one with the most growth potential. Yes, MK is expanding but the parking lot isn't getting any bigger and it already has to close it some days of the year - it redirects to Epcot's massive lot, which actually still has unpaved areas meant to become parking as needed (Wonders lot in the far back corner which we consider the "oh god it's busy" indicator lot was one of these areas.) You can't really build more in Future World without tearing something down, but World Showcase has open plots of land. Epcot actually could use another restaurant. Which is also perplexing as to why Odyssey is not used or a substitute location elsewhere. Yes, the Land grew in capacity, but they've closed the quick-serve restaurants at Wonders, Odyssey, and Communicore West. Maybe they think the new outdoor food stands make up for it? Regardless, Epcot is set up to handle more guests. That's why it never feels as crowded as the other parks even when it is has more people total in it for the day (yes, there are days in which more people goto Epcot then even MK.) Just imagine if Epcot has a strong enough attraction in World Showcase that was far enough from Future World to give them enough cause to open World Showcase at 9am with the rest of the park. In reality, they just need one good headliner attraction to pull this off at a location like Japan or Italy or Germany, etc.. Just big enough and far enough back physically to make that area a "must see" at 9am. But with the current management and imagineering.. one can only dream.
Originally Posted By sjhym33 The fact is that Disney can no longer sell a Showcase Pavillion to a country or a sponsoring group. The fees are very expensive and what is the upside? At one time Disney could sell the idea that it promotes tourism but I would guess that there is no data to support that claim. In fact though a couple of the WS Pavillions opened with tourism desks, I believe they are all gone now. Honestly, I dont even see this on anyones radar at Disney. I think Disney is looking to other things on property other than WS. Someone once told me that adding a pavillion to WS would not alter the bottom line of the parks attendance or money unless it contained a E-ticket attraction. And we all know how infrequently E-ticket attractions are being built these days.
Originally Posted By mousermerf Many of the original World Showcase pavilions were not paid for by their countries. If you can prove otherwise, do so. This is a persistent myth that allows Disney and Imagineering to not focus on that problem area.
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy << What's perplexing is that Epcot is really the only park at WDW that has the infrastructure to deal with much higher crowds then it currently is. Hence, it's the one with the most growth potential. >> Having the infrastructure doesn't mean the crowds will show up. The Magic Kingdom will always be the top draw. EPCOT will always be second fiddle. There's nothing you can add to EPCOT that will dramatically change the attendance trends. There may be gradual ups and downs, but unless overall attendance to WDW increases EPCOT will remain a park with extra capacity.
Originally Posted By mstaft Not sure I agree, Sport Goofy. Id Disney added some outstanding attractions that were "not-to-be-missed" versus just promotional hype, I think Epcot could easily match the MK. But it sounds like we may never know.... Gee, maybe they should build another mountain and see what happens! Mark www.InsightsandSounds.blogspot.com
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy << Id Disney added some outstanding attractions that were "not-to-be-missed" versus just promotional hype, I think Epcot could easily match the MK. >> That's how I would describe EPCOT during its first ten years of operation -- it never came close to the MK then and I don't see how it would happen now.
Originally Posted By mousermerf Well, that's the problem - the above statement isn't true. Epcot has come very close to MK in terms of attendance, in particular its first years. Even now, there are days when more people are at Epcot then MK on occasion.
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy << Epcot has come very close to MK in terms of attendance, in particular its first years. >> I've only seen one year where EPCOT attendance was separated by MK attendance by less than 20%. That was 1992.
Originally Posted By sjhym33 I think what I said was country or sponsoring groups. While the original pavillions were not paid entirely by a country, most of the Showcase pavillions were paid for by groups of sponsors for individual shops or restaurants. The two pavillions built after EPCOT opened were paid for by people other than Disney. Morocco was paid for by its government and Norway was paid for by Norshow which was a comglomorate of Norwegien business incluing NCL. After the park opened it was decided that any new WS pavillion would need substantial investment from within that country. Disney and Imagineering are not focusing on the problem because no one there sees a problem.
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy << Disney and Imagineering are not focusing on the problem because no one there sees a problem. >> I think they see the problem, but there are far larger problems at WDW than the World Showcase.
